Louisiana Voice

Few other outlets will bother to remind you of the lack of real issues actually being discussed by candidates the way we have done in the post below. The majority of media are content to attend speeches and ribbon cuttings, glean a few quotes from the candidate and call it coverage.

I learned campaign coverage the hard way, back in 1974, when I followed a congressional candidate into a small town in southeast Louisiana where one of his appearances was between matches of Friday night wrestling.

Now wrestling crowds are the type not generally prone to wanting to hear some long-winded politician make a bunch of empty promises, especially when he’s holding up the next match. Accordingly, the candidate I was covering was pelted with beer bottles from the audience and was forced to cut his speech short. I had the best political campaign story of my career.

On another occasion, while working for The Shreveport Times, I had occasion to cover a speech to the Claiborne Parish Chamber of Commerce by then-Sen. Allen Ellender. This was July 1972 and he was running reelection. The quote I included in my coverage of his speech went this way: “If I am reelected and if I serve out my term–and I see no reason to believe the Good Lord will not continue to bless me with good health–I will have served in the U.S. Congress longer than anyone else in history.”

Good quote.

Except that the very next day, July 27, he fell dead and his opponent, J. Bennett Johnston, who wasn’t given a ghost of a chance, waltzed in virtually uncontested. Oh, John McKeithen tried to challenge him, but his entry was too little and too late.

Anyway, all this is just my way of pointing out that LouisianaVoice offers a little different twist on Louisiana and national politics.

If you like what we do, we invite you to support us with a contribution during our Spring fundraiser which runs through April.

All you have to do to make a ONE-TIME contribution is go HERE, then scroll down to the yellow DONATE button and follow directions to contribute by credit card.

Anything you can do, large or small, is greatly appreciated and anyone who contributes $50 or more will receive a copy of my upcoming historical novel, The Dinosaur Club. It’s about a bunch of retired geratric newspaper reporters who briefly come out of retirement for the biggest assignment of their careers: identifying and taking down child sex traffickers.